To Be Free
by sanimeo
Summary: i've decided to continue this story. added new part and tacked it on to the end of first chapter. if it get's to hasseling for you guys just tell me, and i'll change it to chapter 1, chapter 2, etc... story focuses on d/h, i'm not sure where im going with


To be Free   
  
  
Draco walked downed the corridors of Hogwarts. How many times had he   
done this before? Follow this same path, never going anywhere. Darkness, how   
many times had he avoided it; how many times did he succumb to it? He lost   
count years ago, wasn't sure of what he wanted to be, needed to be.   
  
Outside he was what he meant to be. He was cold, condescending, in   
control, it hid his insecurities. When he looked in a mirror, he wasn't sure   
he liked what he saw.   
  
He was Draco Malfoy, with that came certain responsibilities,   
obligations. He was what he had to be, it cost him much more then he could   
afford. He didn't know if he was there anymore. If what he saw reflected him,   
or something he had been molded to be. The only thing he knew, was that he   
wanted to be free.   
  
  
The skies darkened and Hermione began to hurry towards the castle, it   
looked like it was going to rain. She broke out into a full run when she felt   
the first drops of rain on her face. It poured harder and harder and Hermione   
began to berate herself for loosing track of the time, so caught up in her   
thoughts. Looking up at the sky once more, she could tell by the movements on   
the horizon that a storm was approaching. She was still a mile away from   
school and she began to debate whether she should find shelter or make a run   
for it.   
  
She was about to run when something in the air caught her attention. It   
was a person on a broom. Hermione gasped in horror as she watched the man   
recklessly ride faster and faster through the air. From the looks of it, he   
had no intention of slowing down. He was getting closer and closer to the   
trees, Hermione was not sure if she could bear to look. The fool was   
obviously trying to get himself killed by the way he was flying.   
  
She could not look away, transfixed she watched him, his robes trailing   
wildly behind him. Crazy, reckless, wild ... amazing. She could not help the   
thrill that went through her body as she watched him weave in and out of the   
trees at top speed. Watching Harry on his broom was amazing, but it was   
nothing like this. Harry was more controlled, more precise; lacking the   
unleashed insanity of the man before her. A man not afraid of death, is a man   
not afraid of anything. It chilled her to the bones, so afraid was she for   
his safety, yet silently urging him on faster.   
  
  
  
I don't know why it happened. One moment I was practicing my Quiditch   
skills and the next minute the wind howled at me, screaming for me to follow.   
I flew as high and as fast as I could.   
  
I didn't think. All I knew was that I wanted to go faster then my broom   
would take me. I sped through the pouring rains, ignoring the drops that   
blurred my vision. Suddenly the speed wasn't enough. I flew towards the   
forest without bothering to slow down and began to whiz the around the trees,   
turning at the last seconds to avoid collisions. I was loosing control of   
myself, and it felt so good.   
  
The adrenaline pumped in my body and I was flying. It was when I   
realized that this was the closest I would ever come to being free, that I   
waited a second to late before I tried to avoid the last tree.   
  
  
  
It happened, it was bound to. It was impossible for him to fly that fast   
without crashing into something. Yet somehow, Hermione couldn't help but feel   
lost. The way he flew, so free. She could almost imagine herself in his   
position. Free from the pressures of everyday life, able to risk her life at   
whim; flirting with death.   
  
He crashed into the tree hard. He shouldn't have been flying so fast if   
he didn't want to get injured she tried to tell herself. But she could almost   
swear that he had deliberately been to late in that last turn. Unable to stop   
herself she ran opposite from Hogwarts and towards him. Her long wet hair   
flew after her as she fought her way through the tangled web of the forest.   
So intent was she on reaching him, she did not notice the branches that   
ripped at her robes and scratched her face and arms.   
  
He had crashed about a mile away from her. She ran the entire way.   
  
  
Draco laid there, stunned from the blow his body had felt when he   
impacted with the ground. Lying there he his head to the side to see the   
remnants of his shattered broom. But he was still alive. The rain blinded him   
as he tilted his head back on the ground to face the dark sky, and began to   
laugh maniacally.   
  
His body was shaking from his laughter, and he did not hear the ground   
scratch against the soles of another persons shoe.   
  
  
She stood there gasping for breath when she reached him. The man on the   
floor was Malfoy, and somehow, Hermione didn't feel too shocked. She walked   
towards him.   
  
  
Draco noticed he was not alone when he felt the presence of another close   
to him. He closed his eyes and pretended to faint from injuries. It wasn't   
hard, he was so pale that it wasn't hard to believe that he had been knocked   
out from a loss of blood.   
  
As he had expected, the person quickly made their way towards him and   
knelt down, to check up on him. Opening his eyes suddenly, he caught a   
glimpse of who it was before he grabbed her wrists with his hands and flipped   
her over, using his body to pin her to the muddy ground. She laid there   
before him startled, and slightly out of it, unsure of what had just   
happened.   
  
"Granger." He drawled, his implacable face showing no emotions. He leaned   
his face close towards hers. "What are you doing here?"   
  
  
Hermione laid on the ground under Draco, unsure of how she had got there.   
Looking up she could see Malfoy, the usual cockiness plastered on his face   
with a dangerous glint in his eyes. It was then she realized that she was   
pinned underneath him, his hands holding her wrists down like iron bars. She   
began to struggle against him to get out of his grip. It was impossible, the   
years had made her female body small compared to his male frame. He was   
easily able to keep her down, and from the look in his eyes, enjoying the   
helplessness of her situation.   
  
"Let me go." Hermione hissed at him.   
  
"Have you ever wanted to loose control?" He asked her, licking a scratch   
a sharp branch had given her on her face. The rain continued to pour down on   
them harshly, the winds whirling around them. "Have you ever wanted to not   
care?" he asked before he pressed his mouth down on hers.   
  
  
She could taste her blood in her mouth as his tongue forcefully explored   
her mouth while he grinded his hips into her body. A shiver of pleasure ran   
through her and she moaned into his mouth. He swallowed it, and let go of her   
wrists to let his hands crawl over her body. She arched her back towards him   
to give him better access to her. Her confusion was being washed away from   
the pleasure, and her good sense became more and more muddled with each   
touch.   
  
Malfoy's mouth left hers to whisper in her ear. "Have you ever wanted to   
give in?"   
  
She wanted to, she felt she almost could. Almost. "I can't." She   
whispered, near tears.   
  
Abruptly Malfoy's face hardened and he got off of her, disgusted with her   
answer. Without bothering to look back, he walked away from her. Hermione   
felt oddly empty as she watched him leave, his comforting warmth replaced by   
the rain above.   
  
She stood up trembling, her hair and robes muddy from the ground, and   
leaned against the same tree Malfoy had earlier crashed into. "But I want   
to." She said to his retreating figure. And she desperately wanted to, but   
she couldn't. Her future, her life, she could not give up.   
  
Draco froze when he heard her voice. Without giving her a second to brace   
herself he whirled around and strode towards her, harshly pushing her against   
the tree trunk with his body before he attacked her mouth with his. He let   
her go after a minute and coolly watched her unsteady body slide down the   
side of the tree, onto the floor.   
  
"You'll give in. Everybody does."   
  
  
Hermione sat there, her back leaning against the tree trunk, and watched   
Draco walk away; his voice echoing in her head.   
  
*******************************************************************************************  
  
She was not able to look at Draco for the next week. Not that it mattered, he   
treated her exactly the same. Looking into his face she saw nothing but the   
same scorn which had always been reserved for her muggle blood. Sometimes she   
wondered if she hadn't made up what had happened in her head; a figment of   
her imagination.   
  
She tried not to think of it as she buried herself farther into her studies,   
trying to erase certain memories with an absurd amount of knowledge.   
  
Hermione was well trained in the art of studying. She could absorb her self   
in a book in less then five minutes, blocking out the world around her. It   
was her refuge; what she used to escape from the truth that threatened to   
break the sanity of her comfortable world. It was between those moments, when   
she put her book down and dared to rest that her brain would began to   
question the validity of Malfoy's statement.   
  
"Do you ever want to give in?"   
  
So simple, so able to rock the very soul of her being. Frustrated with the   
turn of her thoughts, that constantly seem to betray her at every chance, she   
slammed her book shut.   
  
"You'll give in. Everybody does."   
  
Not her, never her. She would never give in she screamed angrily at him in   
her head as she threw the book at an imaginary Malfoy head. Do you hear me   
Malfoy, I'll never give in.   
  
It was a month until graduation, then she would never have to think of that   
prick and his confusing behavior patterns again. Sighing she walked towards   
where she had flung the book and picked it up, dusting off the cover guilty.   
  
  
*******************************************************************************************  
  
What had made him do it? He didn't know, he just saw her and something in him   
snapped. The way she looked at him; it made him want to throw her on the   
floor and fuck her until they were both free.   
  
Her eyes, they echoed what he had felt at that moment, the desire.   
  
It was to much easier to give in, so much easier. He wasn't sure if he would   
be able to fight for his freedom much longer.   
  
*******************************************************************************************  
  
Just breathe, Hermione told herself as she went to the podium to recite her   
speech. "Friends, family, and fellow students, we are gathered here today to   
embark on a new journey. We hope..." She continued on, the people in front of   
her combining to become one big colorful blur. She droned on, her heart not   
in the coveted task.   
  
After the graduation she went to the library one last time. To see it before   
she left, to never again return as a young student searching for knowledge.   
It was there she saw Draco immaculate and leaning against a book shelf;   
waiting for her.   
  
"Granger."   
  
"Malfoy." She replied, a sudden attack of panic gripping her heart. She was   
not ready for this, not ready to see him.   
  
He slowly walked towards her; she did not turn away.   
  
*******************************************************************************************  
  
Hermione had always pictures herself with Harry as the one she would loose   
her virginity to. They would be together, and he would take her gently   
whispering her name over and over in her ear. They would be married or dating   
and it would be romantic. In a room filled with flowers, a bed with silk   
sheets, and they would love each other.   
  
  
She did not expect to loose it to Draco Malfoy on the eve of her graduation   
against the same tree he had crashed into before. There was no love, no name   
calling; just the continuos assault of passion that arose between them, the   
bark of the tree digging into her back.   
  
Afterwards they had dressed and sat away from each other. Neither facing the   
other. The still night was broke by one word.   
  
"Why?"   
  
"You are my last taste of freedom." With that said he stood up and once more   
disappeared into the night, leaving Hermione bewildered and alone.   
  
That was the last time she saw him.   
  
  
*******************************************************************************************  
  
Several years later Hermione and Harry did fall in love. It had been his   
first time and there had been flowers and silk sheets. He had called her name   
over and over again, and she never once doubted his love. It had been loving and   
gentle and when it was over he held her in his arm, stroking her hair with his hand.   
He realized she was not a virgin, but did not ask questions. He was always   
understanding like that. It was enough that she was with him. And she loved him.   
And it was enough.   
  
*******************************************************************************************  
  
The Last Stand   
  
  
It was the last stand. The battle was over, and there were barely any people   
left to continue to fight. Witches, wizards, muggles all together, joined to   
fight this evil that had torn their world apart. Many of them already knew   
that it was a hopeless cause, and preferred to die fighting; before they let   
their world be taken over by the evil forces. It was a suicide mission, the   
final good-bye.   
  
Their hope had been extinguished when Harry had died. It had been his   
mission, his destiny to save the world from Voldermort. In the end he choose   
her over everyone. He had protected her with himself, at the cost of the   
world.   
  
Ron did not fault her. He knew it was not her fault, and he respected the   
decision that Harry had made. But Hermione, she could feel other's eyes on   
her when she walked past them. The whisper, the murmur, she had cost them   
their hope. Their hero. Their resentment slowly turned towards hate as the   
world became a darker and darker place. They began to despise her for what   
she stood for, the destruction of everything they knew. Little did they know,   
that her self-hate rode above everyone else's.   
  
That fateful night, the night that had determined their futures; she had   
begged him to let her go. To let her die; to save the world. He hesitated   
only to tell her he loved her before he stepped into the flames to save her.   
Only her. He valued her above everything he knew, everyone he loved.   
  
It was not his fate to fall in love. It wasn't supposed to happen this way.   
Nothing was supposed to come between him and the fall of Voldermort, but she   
had. And everyone was paying dearly for that.   
  
Sometimes she tried to hate Harry for what he had done. For the idiocy of   
giving up his destiny to save one single measly person. She could never hate   
him though, because she knew. He loved her, as she loved him. Still she   
thought angrily to herself, what was the point of his sacrifice if she was   
left to live in a barren world where she would probably end up dying anyway?   
Death would have been preferable to the daily tortures she was exposed to.   
She would not have been selfish and given up the world for one person her   
heart wailed.   
  
*******************************************************************************************  
  
She joined the last battle; like everyone else, her only wish was to die in   
fighting. To kill as many of them before she was gone forever. God would not   
be so kind to the one that had caused the destruction of humanity.   
Unbeknownst to her, she had also become the symbol of the destruction of   
Harry to Voldermort and his supporters.   
  
They knew as everyone else, that she had got in the way of Harry's destiny to   
rid the world of it's evil. For that, there was a price on her. No one was to   
kill her, she was to become a living trophy of the downfall of all that was   
good. She was the reward, the most powerful of all witches; Harry's love,   
Harry's destruction. The one that would prove himself the most on the battle   
field would be given what had once belonged to the Great Harry. It was part   
of the sadistic humor that made the Death Eaters want to keep her intact, a   
living reminder of their triumph.   
  
She had fought valiantly, and when the time came, she tried to die. When she   
saw her comrades, her friends, people she had went to school with at Hogwarts   
fall to their deaths she tried to follow. She did to no avail. No one would   
kill her.   
  
In the end it was Hermione alone who survived. Harry had gotten his wish,   
Hermione had remained alive. To live another day in the horrid world with   
nothing but guilt and shame. Guilt for being the cause of the destruction of   
everything she had ever known; shame for being alive when everyone else was   
dead.   
  
She had seen Fred and George weave in and out of the field madly, covering   
each other while the other threw curses at death eaters. It hadn't taken long   
for George to get shot, and his death had caused Fred to go insane, lashing   
out at everyone he could reach. He too died soon afterwards, protecting his   
other half's body. Ginny, she had been hit by a deadly cures by one of the   
many of the hooded Death Eaters. She died before she knew what had happened.   
Lavender, Mcgonagall, Sirius ... all dead on that field. Lucky fools she   
thought to herself as she stood there alone, amidst the bodies littered on   
the earth, unsure of why she was still alive; surrounded by indistinguishable   
witches and wizards in bloody black robes.   
  
It was then she realized they had no intention of killing her. It was then   
she took her wand and pointed to herself, intent on ending her misery. The   
leader who had turned out to be Voldermort, was able to disarm before she   
could harm herself and walked towards her, smiling sinisterly as he told her   
of her fate.   
  
"I will give you the gift of life girl, because you are the destruction of   
good and the rise of the dark age."   
  
"I don't want anything from you," she spat at him. Her fury from Harry's   
death not diminished by time.   
  
Voldermort smiled complacently. "Don't you wish to hear of your fate?"   
  
He continued as she was unwilling to answer. "You will be given to my second   
in command, who more then proved that he was the most ferocious in battle;   
killing many of you in one blow. It is he who will be honored with you."   
  
"I would rather die." Hermione replied.   
  
"Unfortunately for you, you don't have that choice."   
  
"Malfoy." Voldermort's voice cracked.   
  
Hermione started at the name.   
  
"Here she is, your prize." Voldermort sneered towards her. "Take her and do   
as you will."   
  
A covered figure walked towards them, raw power emanating from his body. He   
reeked of dark magic and Hermione recognized him as the one that had taken   
down Sirius, Ginny and Fred, a few among the many. He reached his hand   
towards his hood and slipped it off, the cold face of Draco Malfoy appearing   
before her. Before she could react he pointed towards her and they both   
apparated out of the field. Hermione became faint and the world blacked out,   
all she could hear was the triumphant laughter of the death eater's around   
her.   
  



End file.
